DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

I haven't read Action #3 yet but I'm already getting a little bored with yet another "year one" storyline, now that the novelty of Superman wearing blue jeans is wearing off. I would have preferred Morrison did something more akin to "All Star"

Just read through that, and based on what I've seen here and around the 'net none of those come as much of a surprise to me. Honestly, non of those are ones that interested me, so I won't be that sad to see any of them go.

The only DC New 52 books i'm getting are Justice League, Batman, Superman, Action Comics and Detective Comics.
I really enjoyed the first two months of books from these 5 titles. But so far, this month, not looking as good.
Both Action Comics #3 and Detective Comics #3 felt like place holding issues. Not much really happened. I'm starting to get my old worries of how DC was running things, where the stories had to insure being fit into a hardcover trade collection. It felt like that again with these two issue 3s.

Here’s the top 100 best selling comic books and graphic novels in the month of October in comic stores through Diamond Comic Distributors. This does not include UK sales, and items with an asterisk are returnable by the retailer for a small fee, and so have been reduced by DIamond by 10% to compensate.

Superman #2 seems to the most prominent loser in October, slipping from fourth place in September to tenth place, but only because Justice League, Batman, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Flash and Detective Comics retain their dominance at the top of the charts despite two heavily hyped Marvel #1 relaunches of their own, and the conclusion of Marvel’s big event.

But those three titles are the only books Marvel have in the top twenty, and it’s only at position 22 that we see the final issue of Uncanny X-Men (before the November relaunch). This is nothing more than a rout by DC on Marvel’s marketshare and chart position.

At the other end of the chart, last month, we pointed out that OMAC, written by co-publisher Dan DiDio was the worst selling of them all (although still at a respectable 82nd position). It’s now dropped to 84, and a few other titles have dropped further, Static Shock, Blackhawks and my favourite, Men Of War. But the fact they remain on this chart at all is a miracle, and sales have hardly slipped, in comparison with the other books from issue 1 to 2, across the board.

This is unheard of in modern comics, where a drop by 50% from issue 1 to 2 is commonplace. With the whole market rising by 7-8% since last month, that could well mean that no DC book has actually lost any sales from #1 to #2 – indeed, some have put on sales .And Marvel may have lost marketshare – but not necessarily sales.

I'm wondering if these numbers include digital sales? I have to say that for people like me who live internationally this move has been great. Whereas before I would have obtained comics I wanted to read through alternative means, now I am spending more than twenty bucks a month on legit comics. I have also spent more money this past year on ebooks than I have spent on books in the past five years.

Perhaps the music scene should be taking note. I actually know an "honest" guy who technically breaks the law to pay for music on iTunes that he could more easily download from bittorrent. When I open iTunes, all I can legitimately purchase are apps.

I still haven't gotten a chance to read any of the New 52 other than Justice League #1, but now that we've gotten at least 2 issue of each series I wanted to see what you guys thought of my picks.
Really want:
Action Comics
Batman
Aquaman
JLDark
Green Lantern Corps
The Flash
Wonder Woman
Might Get:
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Unsure about:
Batman & Robin
Supergirl
Suicide Squad
The Savage Hawkman
Green Lantern
Superboy
Frankenstein, Agent of Shade
Green Arrow
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Supergirl
Probably not:
Catwoman
Red Hood and the Outlaws
I'm planning on getting between 5-10 individual issues.

I still haven't gotten a chance to read any of the New 52 other than Justice League #1, but now that we've gotten at least 2 issue of each series I wanted to see what you guys thought of my picks.

Click to expand...

Kay.

Action Comics: you know, it would suck regardless, but it's in even worse taste to have your comic about social justice gouge its fans with a premium price point without providing equivalent value for those four dollars. Action Comics is evil (the story is fine I guess).
Batman: Batman, hence bad.
Aquaman: it's okay. I've soured on it since I read it, but when I read it I thought it was pretty good. It's very meta, in a bad way.
...
The Flash: it's fantastic! Francis Manapul is some kind of god.
Wonder Woman: it's really good.

Might get:
Batwoman: might get? I might vomit in my own mouth. Buy it. J.H. Williams III is the god Francis Manapul worships.
Birds of Prey: no idea, but the interiors apparently look a lot better than its covers. And previews of #2 indicate Katana acts really creepy crazy in a fun way. I kind of want to pick it up myself.

Unsure about:
Batman & Robin: see Batman.
Supergirl: I have witnessed events so tiny and so fast they could hardly be said to have occurred at all. But you are just a man.
Suicide Squad: thin Amanda Waller is abomination. Don't support abomination.
...
Green Lantern: I've heard Hal Jordan's a stupid dick to whom bad things happen in it, ala Justice League. Is it $2 yet? Because Hal Jordan as a stupid dick to whom bad things happen is my favorite thing.
Superboy: some people have liked it.
Frankenstein, Agent of Shade: it's okay; rather unimpressive.
Green Arrow: Krul and Jurgens, together at last! Wait.
...
Supergirl: you wrote this twice. You have officially provided more Supergirl content than the actual Supergirl comic. Maybe start with issue 2, if you're curious enough to pay it. I can't imagine you being lost.

"Batman" is the only Batman title I've really enjoyed, "Detective Comics" doesn't seem to be doing anything real fantastic and artwork is inconsistent in quality and aesthetics. "The Dark Knight" is almost pure crap. Unlike others I actually like the Catwoman title so far and may continue to follow it.
These are the comics I intend to follow through their first arc and then drop unless something wonderful comes along.

Action Comics has been interesting and good so far and I like it, Superman has been as well. I'm still not 100% sold on the direction they're taking with the character (I guess I like the boy-scout Golden/Silver Age Superman the best) but they've got be convinced that it could work.

The latter three I picked up because it's Batman and none have captivated me. Wonder Woman I picked up simply because it's Wonder Woman but it's yet to really grab me beyond have pretty decent art work. Supergirl has been interesting so far but don't think it's likely I'll follow it beyond the first arc unless something grabs me to convince me to stick with it for the longer haul.

Then there's "The Flash" which I picked up out of curiosity but didn't impress anything on me one way or the other. Just wanted to see what they did with the character and what I saw I liked and found interesting but, for me, The Flash is a boring superhero. Being able to move fast doesn't inspire me with a lot of "wow factor" in superhero ability.

"Batwoman" 1 and 2 I picked up on mistake and I didn't really care for, some of the art in it was good but overall it didn't really grab me and the story I couldn't care less about. The comic lacked "fun."

Action Comics
Batman
Batman, Inc (when it returns)
Batman and Robin
Batgirl
Batwoman
Justice League
Superboy
Supergirl
Superman
Stormwatch (this one is on the verge of being dropped)
Teen Titans (although this is on the verge of being dropped)
Wonder Woman

Of this group the ones I've really liked are: Suicide Squad, I Vampire, Aquaman, and Batwing. I've thought Action, Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Green Lantern, and Batman & Robin (second book at least) were good enough to finish their arcs. Still intrigued by GLC and Voodoo. Hoping Static Shock and Terrific will get better. I think Shock needs a much bigger overhaul though than Terrific. Terrific mainly just needs a better villain.

Will probably drop:
Justice League International
New Guardians
Batman
Detective
The Dark Knight
Nightwing (book isn't bad but there are just so many other books and I can't support them all)

It will be interesting to see what the second wave of New 52 heralds if anything and what DC's Summer 2012 event will be. Marvel has yet to reveal it's event but rumours and speculation have been that it will be big and involve five of their "Architects" on the project. DC's of course will be the first event in the 52 'Verse.

Wonder Woman #1 and #2: Great intro to the title character and I like both the look into her mythical past, which might not be so mythical afterall, as well as the developing story about the woman she rescued.

Titles I'll follow for the time being...

Batgirl (I think it's the best written of the bunch.)
Green Lantern: New Guardians
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men
Wonder Woman

The Batman and Superman titles have some interesting elements, but I'm still iffy on whether or not I want to continue. And I still have to read Voodoo and Justice League Dark.